Who Are You Online?

     After reading several articles on online identity, privacy, and professionally managing your reputation on social media, it is clear that there is currently contrasting notions of online identity on the internet. The article on Online Identity by Aleks Krotoski poses these ideas as authenticity versus anonymity. When using social media websites, they usually require you to use a real name that is linked to a real email and real-world connections. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. perpetuate the idea of authenticity online- that how you present yourself online should be how you present yourself in the real world because everything is interconnected. This reminds me of a topic called "Social Schizophrenia" Eric Qualman talks about in his book Socialnomics. Accodrding to Qualman, because of the ubiquity of social media, the line between "work" and "home" life are further blurred. Because social media allows people to get a fuller picture of our lives, we can no longer maintain split personas of work and play and thus there is a death to the social schizophrenia of the past. This is in accordance with the idea of online authenticity, and an overall more transparent culture. In today's world of social media and "tagging", it would be difficult for someone to maintain a completely alternate identity on social media, although people do embellish their lives on social media all the time. On the other hand, Krotski's article states that Christopher Chan the creator of 4Chan believes that the mainstream idea of authenticity online can be very limiting. He believes that anonymity can actually allow for more freedom and creativity online by giving people the choice to explore topics that they don't necessarily want tied to them or to figure out what exactly they want their identity to be by giving them a clean slate.
     I would like to add that authenticity could also be posed against privacy, because anonymity and privacy are two separate categories. Whether you are online using your real name or a pseudonym, there is always an expectation of a certain amount of privacy and control over your information and online activities. Everyone wants to feel in control over what information about themselves is put out in the open and what websites and companies collect about their habits. However, because of numerous passwords required for almost every website and numerous privacy settings to sift through, it is becoming increasingly difficult to manage all of one's personal information and activity online. Based on the articles about protecting your online identity and managing your professional reputation online, you must constantly keep your social media and security resources updated to make sure that only the information you want to be viewed is only being viewed by the people you want to view it. Obviously, there is a lot of room for things to slip through the cracks.
     All of this being said, I believe that online authenticity is more important than anonymity. I think with the nature of the internet as it is today and it's exponentially increasing capacities to connect society, the future of the internet will not leave much room for anonymity or phonies. I believe that establishing your online identity will become just as important as establishing your identity in real life, because they will be virtually synonymous. I think that people will have to accept that if they want to search something that is not necessarily "them" or explore a new identity, it will always be tied to their actually identity. I think that online anonymity usually leads to people making ignorant and radical statements because they believe no one will ever know it was them. Case and point, all the "anonymous" Youtube video responses and the app "YikYak". I believe that society and future employers will have to accept that people are not one dimensional, and thus are capable of having many different aspects of their personalities besides the one they usually witness. Online authenticity will further connect people in multiple dimensions of their lives, therefore society will have to be more transparent and accepting. An employee for a company will also have to be seen by their employer as all the other roles they play in their life: a mom, a friend, a partier, an artist, a comedian. Ultimately, people will have to be aware that all of the aspects of who they are in person is also who they are online, because all of this information about them is accessible.

Sources:
Socialnomics by Eric Qualman

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2012/apr/19/online-identity-authenticity-anonymity

http://apcmag.com/protecting-your-online-identity.htm/

http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/media-network-blog/2013/jun/11/professional-reputation-social-media-tips

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-06-17/news/40027555_1_social-media-linkedin-senior-professionals

Photo:
http://www.allmusic.com/album/who-are-you-mw0000072760